Cultural consumption on the rise in Shandong

The First Shandong Cultural Consumption Season generated 420 million yuan ($65.4 million) in the sales of cultural products and services, according to a summary conference convened by the Shandong provincial government on Jan 15 in Jinan, capital of Shandong province.

The First Shandong Cultural Consumption Season, which was unveiled on July 20, 2017 and lasted for 100 days, was organized by the Shandong provincial department of culture. It was scheduled with nearly 5,000 cultural activities that had been carried out both online and offline in the province's 17 cities, in a bid to enrich residents' lives as well as boost the development of regional cultural sector.

Wang Shaojie, vice director of Shandong provincial publicity department, said that the First Shandong Cultural Consumption Season offered about 1,000 types of cultural products and services and 5,000 arts and cultural activities, attracting 133 million people to participate while bringing in a total consumption of 20.67 billion yuan.

Wang commented that Shandong has huge potential in cultural consumption, which will be made into a new momentum of economic growth through supply-side structural reform in the cultural sector and building a comprehensive cultural consumption platform.

Li Bei, vice president of Shandong Provincial Theater, said that the theater hosted two festivals to attract more audience during the cultural consumption season -- the First Shandong International Small Theater Drama Show and the Family Theater Drama Show.

According to Li, the cultural consumption season helps attract more people and bring in more box office earnings.

Wang Lei, head of Shandong provincial department of culture, emphasized that the department will promote the transformation and upgrading of cultural industry to foster cultural consumption as a new driver of economic growth.

According to the Shandong provincial department of culture, since 2014, the province has established 150 centers in both rural and urban areas to promote fine traditional culture.

The centers in libraries, officially called Nishan Academies, have lecture halls and reading rooms for Confucian classics. Shandong has multiple Confucianism research institutes. Nearly 10,000 villages have a Confucianism teacher in the province.